Even for those who do not observe Ramadan, it is difficult to forget the fasting period, which profoundly alters the rhythm of Moroccan life. Only tourist areas such as Marrakesh and Agadir are still operating more or less normally, with plenty of restaurants and cafés. Everywhere else, including Casablanca, Rabat and El Jadida, the restaurants open before iftar (the breaking of the fast) are rare and empty, and it’s impossible to sit on a terrace in public.
Ramadan disrupts daylight saving time changes
Morocco is on the GMT time zone, whereas France is on GMT+1. A few years ago, the country introduced summer time, which in any case starts later (end of May, beginning of June) and ends earlier (end of September). Unfortunately, as Ramadan takes place in the summer, Morocco cancels daylight saving time during the Ramadan period.
So this year we’re changing our watches four times!
But the clocks don’t keep up. There’s no point in photographing the clocks that have remained unperturbed by winter time, so they end up being on time once in a while… Nor have mobile phones gone through the time waltz, with Maroc Télécom and Inwi deeming it pointless to change the time broadcast by the network. As for Windows PCs, the concept of episode-based daylight saving time is unknown to them, and every week my PC cancels the time change I impose on it.
In other words, it’s a bit confusing…
Nevertheless, we’re making progress, the changes are now planned in advance, and the Moroccans are getting used to this waltz of watches.
And in any case, Ramadan is a special time!
Continuous working hours during Ramadan
Administrations, banks and most businesses operate a continuous timetable, from 9am to 3pm. The peak hour is therefore between 3pm and 5pm, especially as this is the time when Moroccans go out to get the last ingredients for the Iftar, the meal to break the fast.
Ramadan is probably the only month when you can’t ask someone to wait for you if you’re running late!
As Ramadan fasting is quite tiring, in practice people arrive after 9am, and even if they’re there on time, it takes a while for their efficiency to kick in. There’s roughly a window of opportunity between 11am and 1pm to get what you want without too much stress and/or difficulty.
Shop opening times are different. They open quite late in the morning, more than usual, generally around 11am-12pm, and close two hours before Festa. Except for food shops, which will stay open very late. After iftar and the evening prayer (Isha), most shops reopen, until quite late, because everyone is out at night.
To eat or not to eat?
Morocco is a tolerant country, and restaurants are allowed to serve food during Ramadan. Except in very touristy places, or certain “spots” like Macdonalds on the Corniche in Casablanca, you will just be asked to sit in the dining room. But the windows are not covered by newspapers, as in other countries…
On the other hand, many restaurants close altogether, or only open for iftar. There’s no point in looking for a “cheap traditional Moroccan restaurant” at midday. “Cheap traditional Moroccan” means for Moroccans, so it’s closed.
So you’ll have to fall back on hotels, pizzerias and Pizza Huts.
You should know that eating in public is always an offence for a Moroccan Muslim. Many Moroccans are still shocked by the demonstrations by the “fast-breakers” who are demanding that they be allowed to eat as they please while picnicking in front of Parliament, and you are expected to exercise discretion.
But the café terraces remain open: it’s perfectly acceptable to sit there without ordering anything, just to pass the time.
The iftar obsession
About an hour before the young person’s break, the streets are empty. People wait impatiently for the cannon shot, the siren and the muezzin’s song announcing “maghrib” (sunset), and the iftar table is carefully loaded.
The iftar is ‘the’ meal of the day, shared with family and friends. When you live in Morocco, you are regularly invited to share iftar. And a word of advice: even if you don’t eat lunch, eat lightly at midday, as iftar is a calorie, carbohydrate and protein overdose!
Photo CC BY NC SA de Martin Erpicum
It traditionally starts with dates and whey, followed by a bowl of soup. Hard-boiled eggs with salt and cumin. And EVERYTHING ELSE, it’s rich, sweet, oily, … and generally delicious.
iftar lasts a good hour, after which one part of the family may go and pray, while another does the washing-up (guess which one?) or watches an extraordinary programme on Moroccan television. (We’ll have to show you Moroccan TV). When prayer is over, the family is ready to go out and enjoy the cool night air.
Nights of Ramadan
The nights of Ramadan are long and late. The whole town is out, shops are lit up, cafés and restaurants are full, young people are having fun in groups, mothers are behind pushchairs while fathers keep an eye on the older children.
The local authorities organise shows and concerts of Moroccan music, or even invite foreign artists. It’s a refreshing time to be out and about. As the night is short, no one eats three meals, and families often make do with a second meal very late, around 2 or 3 o’clock.
In the middle of the night, the cannon thundered again, announcing that, in half an hour, fasting would resume. The latecomers hurriedly drank, ate and smoked for the last time before the following evening. And when the second cannon shot is fired, the fast begins again.
This is my first Ramadan in Morocco. As a European, I have fewer constraints than my co-author, who is married to a Moroccan. But the daily lives of the people you come into contact with are so altered that it’s impossible to abstract yourself from them, unless you live in a complete bubble. In the south, it’s particularly difficult, and Stéphanie left our house near Zagora to join me in Casablanca. Over there, everything is closed, dead during the day. But temperatures rise to almost 50°C around midday.
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